ontario expands covid vaccine eligibility to all adults on tuesday
the government had initially said it would lower the vaccine eligibility age to 30 this week.
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a pedestrian wearing a mask walks past signage for a vaccination clinic in toronto, wednesday april 28, 2021.
peter j thompson/national post
toronto — ontario says its covid-19 hot spots will have enough vaccine supply to meet demand even as it makes all adults across the province eligible for a shot tomorrow.
the province has moved back to distributing vaccines on a per capita basis after sending half its supply to hot spots for the last two weeks.
the mayor of toronto says it will be challenging to meet the expected rise in demand given that move, particularly when more people who don’t live in hot spots become eligible tomorrow.
health minister christine elliott says a shipment of vaccines arriving early has allowed the province to expand its immunization effort ahead of schedule.
she says local public health officials can continue to send more shots to hot-spot neighbourhoods and adds that the province will send toronto more vaccines if they run out.
opposition politicians are criticizing ending the hot spot allocation period, saying more focus on hard-hit communities is needed to bring down infections.
toronto mayor john tory said he was concerned his city may not be able to keep up with anticipated demand.
“we can’t make appointments available for which we don’t have vaccines,” tory said on monday.
the province announced early monday that all adults across ontario will be eligible to book a covid-19 vaccine starting tuesday. those turning 18 this year will also be allowed to book a pfizer-biontech vaccine — the only one currently authorized by health canada for use in youth 12 and older.
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the government had initially said it would lower the vaccine eligibility age to 30 this week for residents across ontario.
vaccines were made available earlier this month to those 18 and older living in one of the 114 communities designated as covid-19 hot spots.
the province has said it hopes to see all eligible ontarians fully vaccinated by the end of september. the government said it’s on track to see 65 per cent of ontario adults receive a first dose by the end of this month.
the eligibility expansion come after a milestone weekend for the province.
premier doug ford tweeted sunday that seven million doses of vaccine had been administered in ontario.
ontario reported 2,170 new cases of covid-19 on monday and four more deaths linked to the virus. the data was based on nearly 24,500 completed tests.
the ministry of health said 1,320 people were hospitalized with the virus on monday but noted that more than 10 per cent of hospitals did not submit data over the weekend.
meanwhile, shoppers drug mart said it is now offering rapid antigen covid-19 tests for asymptomatic people at all its pharmacies in ontario and alberta, though these have to be purchased.
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